Hi Shelley,

The Minnesota Lyme Association medical advisor, Dr. Betty Maloney, has urged anyone who is bitten by a tick NOT to GUESS at attachment time. Because all ticks in Minnesota have the potential to spread disease, if the tick was attached, Dr. Maloney recommends that the person see their doctor immediately and request prophylaxis antibiotics. If it was a black-legged tick, go to mnlyme.com and click on the big tick on the patient page. That should open a file that you can print to take with you to your doctor. Read it before you go so you can discuss it with some confidence. The doctor will need to know the type of tick. You can link to photos of ticks from the MLA website. Go to Resources > Tick Info & Photos

Veterinarians recommend treating dogs with a tick control, such as Frontline. You can find a lot of information on pets, ticks and Lyme disease on the website of the Minnesota Lyme Association. Go to Patients > Pets

According to people who do tick surveillance (such as the MN Dept of Health, The Metropolitan Mosquito Control District, and the MN DNR), they each have the potential to harbor ticks. And I've read a few articles recently that suggest that ticks are becoming adaptable to new environments, such as this one I recently posted to the Minnesota Lyme Association Facebook group http://nres.illinois.edu/News_LymeDisease.

That is a great question - one that many of us have. GlaxoSmithKline developed a vaccine in the early 2000s but it was pulled due to some difficulties in its trials. To date, no human vaccines for Lyme Disease are available. Until then, it is imperative that we protect ourselves as best as possible.
Moquito Squad uses an integrated approach to reducing tick activity in your outdoor living space. First, a synthetic permethrin is applied to the foliage in the yard to eliminate the adult ticks. Second, small Tick Tubes (cotton, treated with a tick toxicant, encapusulted in a toilet paper roll size tube) are placed in a grid pattern where field mice are active to eliminate the larval ticks.

There was a vaccine for people some years ago, called Lymerix, but the manufacturer pulled it. Like Lyme disease, the issues surrounding the vaccine were complex and political. If you are interested in the history, Lyme Disease Association has some more details.

I've seen dozens of articles about how this will be a bad season for ticks. You can Google and find them easily, including the theories behind it. That's relative of course; whether there are 100 ticks or 1, if you get bitten, you are at risk of contracting Lyme and/or co-infections. As for dog parks, it probably depends on what type of habitat it's in. If it's a wooded park, like the one along the Mississippi River, it's probably loaded with ticks of all sorts. The dog park by my house, which has a base of wood chips, is safer. But regardless, my dog gets a dose of Frontline each month starting in March. My cat does too, BTW, just in case.

Hello Jeff. I am not certain if ticks will be worse at dog parks, relative to other areas, but that may very well be true do to a larger number of dogs visiting the parks. Ticks choose a variety of animals for their blood meal - the type of host animal depends upon the stage of the tick. Adult ticks prefer larger mammels, such as deer and dogs, while immature ticks prefer small rodents, typically. Which leads to your second question. What makes one year worse than the next? Due to the mild winter, many of the rodents were able to overwinter quite easily. Many deer tick get their first blood meal from field mice and other small rodents. The greater the rodent population, the great the propensity for the deer tick to find its blood meal. Additionally, deer tick overwinter and remain active, especially in temperatures above 40 degrees. Last winter's temps certainly made it easier for the ticks to survive and thrive.

The MMCD (mmcd.org) lists a few tips:
Some simple precautions can reduce your risk:
1. When hiking in wooded areas, stick to the center of the trail.
2. Wear light colored clothes so ticks are more visible
3. Use insect repellent. Be sure to follow label instructions
4. After being in the woods, check yourself and your kids thoroughly for ticks
5. Remove ticks immediately (ticks must remain attached at least 24 hours to transmit Lyme disease bacteria).
6. Save brush-cutting projects for the month of August.

Mosquito Squad also has a pretty good section on prevention: http://www.mosquitosquad.com/bugs/Ticks.html

Apart from that, I personally use a product developed by a local chemist (www.buggspray.com) to treat my clothing when I am hiking, etc. It is intended only for use on clothing - not humans or animals - and works quite well.

I chuckled a little at your comment about never leaving the house - I just had an invitation to go camping, which I adamantly declined! But since you asked, If I did decided to accept the offer, I would spray all my camping gear (maybe not the cooking stuff), clothing (shoes, socks, hats, scarves, underwear) with permethrin a couple days before the trip. A Minnesota company, BuggSpray, makes such a product. They also make a DEET product for your skin (which I would use as well) and a yard spray. You can read about their products on their website: BuggSpray.com. At the end of each day I'd take a hot shower, but then, even when I was camping, I never strayed too far from civilization. There's a printable flier (entitled Protect Yourself) with recommendations for avoiding tick bites at mnlyme.com. Go to Resources > Prevention

Thanks for a great question. As parents and pet owners, we all struggle with the balance of the use of a pesticide and the dangers of the targeted pest (in this case, the deer tick and Lyme Disease). On the professional side, as a licensed commercial pesticide applicator, we are prohibited from referring to any pesticide as "safe". That said, keep in mind that any insecticide's safety depends on how it is used. Insecticides that are registered/approved by the EPA are considered to present "an acceptable level of risk" when used as directed. Permethrins generally fall under the category of "Caution" for precautionary statements on the insecticide label - the least toxic of three categories. "Warning" and "Danger" indicate that the pesticide classified as such present a far greater danger than "Caution". In sum, use permethrin as instructed on the label to aid in the fight against ticks and the inherent danger that they present to you, your family and pets. Be well.

Jane.... your comments remind me of a weird phenomenom that I encountered while attending St. John's University in the late 80's. Surrounded by a 100 acres of beautiful woodlands, I only got ticks on me while laying on the beach of Lake Sag.... on the hot sand. It never made sense to me. With regards to your infestation of ticks in your outdoor living space I can't help but put on my commercial applicator's hat and tell you to hire a company to help eradicate the creepy crawlers. Additionally, use Frontline or its equivalent to protect the dogs. Many people resort to using repellents, which is greatly recommended, but while in my home environment I would rather spray the foliage than my family, pets or me. :0)

Mosquito Squad has tested many products, including "all natural" solutions. We have settled on one that has relatively better results than others tested. It uses garlic juice as its active ingredient. Just be ready to crave an Italian meal after applying it. :0)

Freya: The wood tick (American Dog Tick) in our area does not carry the bacterium (Borrelia burgorferi) that causes Lyme Disease, but it can rarely carry another tick borne infection called Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever that can be serious or even fatal. In July of 2009 a small child from Dakota County died as a result of a tick bite from an American Dog Tick. Less than 2000 cases of that disease are reported each year nation wide. So in most instances it is not necessary to send in the American Dog Ticks for testing.